Hazleton, PA and ACLU and Immigration

In the ongoing long term battle over illegal immigration, many states have taken things into their own hands but more interestingly, counties, cities and towns are taking the law or making laws to handle the situation.

In the case of Hazleton, PA, the city had an influx of immigrants (many of whom were illegal) from the New Jersey/New York area after 9/11. These immigrants sought a better quality of life than what was available in the NJ/NY areas so they moved into parts of PA.

The town claims that at the same time there was a statistical correlation of higher crime rates and that investigating crimes performed by illegal immigrants costs more and is more difficult.

Note: there is little to no controversy about legal immigration when compared to immigration of the illegal type.

It is doubtless that whatever the crime rate or cause, this town is out to get rid of illegal immigrants. The laws they passed were directed to landlords and businesses applying for business licenses. In terms of effectiveness, the policy seems to actually work pretty well because the numbers that have left is considerable. As to how many were legal versus illegal, we'll never know either way unless we check all their papers and it is not as if people won't find THAT idea offensive. The reason that the policy works is very simple. Without jobs and employers willing to risk hiring illegals, illegal immigrants have no reason to be there. If someone had the ability to extend that to a larger area (say the whole country), then illegals would have little reason to cross the border illegally.

Oh, side note - the President went to Mexico and we had to listen to a Mexican official why there should be laws etc to stop Mexicans. The reason that drives me nuts is because they treat their neighbors to the south in a far worse manner.